KAMLOOPS – The public is invited to join TRU’s Canadian Studies Program’s celebration of its tenth anniversary Monday, March 12th.
Dr. Robert MacKinnon, now Dean of Arts at the University of New Brunswick, St. John, has returned to TRU to deliver a topic of special local interest, a comparison of the small cities of Kamloops and St. John entitled “Eastern and Western Rambles: A Comparison of Life and Work in a Maritime and a Western Canadian City” from 12:30 to 2:30 in room 1008 of the International Building.
A public reception in the TRU art gallery will follow Dr. MacKinnon’s talk.
“As the lead researcher and co-director of a Community University Research Alliance project entitled ‘The Industrial City in Transition: A Cultural and Environmental Inventory of Greater Saint John,’ and a former Kamloopsian, Dr. MacKinnon is eminently qualified to speak about small cities,” said event co-organizer anne Gagnon of the program’s co-founder, who in the 1990s led a (then-UCC) committee in the creation of a CNST program.
Dr. MacKinnon’s internationalization initiatives led to formal student exchange agreements between TRU and three German universities. These in turn led to Robert’s own guest professorship at the University of Bonn, followed by six guest professorships at German universities by three CNST professors. In addition, CNST faculty have organized three TRU visiting professorships from European scholars – the first of their kind at this university – and are currently organizing an electronic art exhibit involving former TRU students and exchange students who are now in graduate studies programs in Canada and abroad.
“The program was founded with three objectives, to foster student development through experiential learning and interdisciplinarity, to enhance student and faculty research opportunities and to develop the institution’s international connections,” explained Gagnon.
In the past decade, the program has had considerable success on all three fronts.
Since 1997, Canadian Studies students have produced two books and three major art exhibits, acted as research assistants to faculty, published articles, and presented conference papers at the TRU Undergraduate Student Conference (organized this year by CNST faculty member Kelly-Anne Maddox and her students), the British Columbia Adult Basic education conference, and the Trent University Canadian Studies Student Conference.
In addition, approximately 100 students under Canadian Studies faculty supervision have completed hands-on learning courses that engaged them in work projects within the university, with local arts organizations, and in international settings such as Guatemala, Kenya, and Spain. As well as the core course which Dr. MacKinnon developed, students today have the option of selecting from among several interdisciplinary courses in Francophone, film, regional, and Aboriginal studies.
In addition to delivering conference papers across North America and Europe and publishing in a variety of books and journals, TRU’s Canadian Studies professors organized an international conference in 2003 and edited the published conference proceedings.
With the creation of the Centre for the Study of Canada on July 1, 2005, TRU Canadian Studies expanded its research community to include former TRU professor Brigitta O’Regan, two professors emeritus, Tom Pocklington and Henry Hubert; and TRU professors James Hoffman and Kelly-Anne Maddox. CSC members are organizing a second international conference (on the theme of the Canadian West) to be held this September.
Dr. Robert MacKinnon has previously held the positions of Chair, Department of Social and Environmental Studies, University College of the Cariboo; Visiting Professor at The University of Bonn; and Visiting Fellow at Obirin University in Tokyo, Japan, and has been Dean of Arts at UNB St. John since 2001. Robert has contributed to such journals and publications as National Geographic, Acadiensis, Canadian Historical Review, and The Historical Atlas of Canada.
For further information, please contact TRU Canadian Studies coordinator and director of the Centre for the Study of Canada, Dr. Anne Gagnon at 828-5057 or by email.
